Burning of the Fiery Star.

There seems to have been something ill-omened about the name of the Fiery Star. When the Dauntless arrived in Auckland from London she had on board the chief officer and seventeen men of the ship Fiery Star, which had met with a terrible disaster. the Fiery Star had left Brisbane for England early in April, 1865, and when twelve days out caught fire. The captain and some of the crew, together with the passengers (80 souls in all) took to the ship's boats, and as they were never heard of again, it was presumed they were lost. The chief officer and seventeen of the crew stuck to the burning ship, and for twenty-two days kept the fire down. It was then that the Dauntless hove in sight, and as it was seen that the task of entirely subduing the fire was quite impossible, the offer of Captain Moore to take the men off was accepted. A few hours later the Fiery Star was seen to go down.

the Fiery Star was a Black Ball liner, and formerly the clipper ship Comet.

The barque Dauntless must not be confused with the 1050-ton ship which visited Dunedin in command of Captain Cowan. This vessel also made a long voyage of 131 days, arriving at Port Chalmers on November 24. 1863.